Thought for the Week

Two Old Testament books bear a woman’s name as title and are about the lives of those two women. One is Esther and I want to spend some time looking at her life and ministry. We can see and understand God is moving and shaping throughout the book yet His name is not mentioned. We can also see the two prime characters in the book are much involved with God and dependent on Him and yet prayer is not mentioned. It is alluded to but not actually stated. The setting for the book is following the fall of the Southern kingdom, known as Judah. God has shown His long-suffering nature with Israel. In the time of the divided kingdom, Israel had many kings. Not one of them is known as a godly king. Judah also had multiple kings and only a minority of them are known as godly. Hence, because of Israel’s disobedience and rejection of God, that kingdom fell first. Repeated warnings by many prophets, and the example of Israel’s fall failed to convince Judah to love and serve God and eventually that nation fell as well. Many of the people were taken into captivity by King Nebuchadnezzar. The Prophet Jeremiah had clearly sounded warnings of the impending fall of Judah but he was unheeded. Still within his prophesying. He sounded a note of hope by telling the people that after seventy years of captivity, God would restore them to their land. He told them to accept the captivity, to make themselves at home and be good citizens, to prosper and be fruitful and productive and He would bless them even during this period of discipline. This is a good warning. Whenever God disciplines His children, they should accept that disciple, for it is surely well-deserved, learn from it and go about being fruitful and productive as much as is possible. The setting for our story is the capital city of the kingdom. Babylon had been a mighty empire under Nebuchadnezzar. It deteriorated and was overthrown by a coalition of Media and Persia. Its ruler at this time is known as Ahasuerus in the KJV Bible. He was certainly not a godly king. His queen was named Vashti. In the early years of his reign, he threw an elaborate feast, perhaps to impress his subjects. The feast was probably as much a drunken orgy as it was a banquet. While this was going on, the queen threw a corresponding feast. The officials of the empire came from all over. Well into the celebration, the king decided to display the beauty of the queen. This was offensive to her. She did not want to be displayed like some trophy and she refused to appear. I think she was right but it enraged the king. He called together his inner council to decide what to do and how to save “face.” Their advice was, divorce and depose her, and find another. This was at least in part because these men were concerned that the queen’s response of disobedience would endanger their standing in their own households. So, if you will, an empire-wide beauty contest was held. It seems that physical beauty was the only requirement to become the queen. The goal of the counselors was “that every wife in the empire would honor (and obey) her husband.” The ladies who entered the contest would have all the time they needed to prepare for their one night with the king and if not chosen queen she would remain in his harem.